LEXINGTON, Va. – An early two-goal lead slipped away, but the top-seeded Washington and Lee men's soccer team rebounded quickly and fought off fourth-seeded Shenandoah, 4-2, in the ODAC semifinals on Thursday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Generals (12-3-4) moved out in front by a 1-0 score in the 13th minute on a free kick opportunity following a foul. Fresh into the game to replace an injured teammate, junior
Lucas Pleasants scored from the free kick spot, curling a left-footed shot into the top-right corner of the frame.
W&L's lead grew to two in the 28th minute, when sophomore
Buster Couhig found classmate
Alec Perez for Perez's seventh goal of the season. The Hornets (9-5-3) rallied late in the first half, however, and were given a penalty kick in the 44th minute after a W&L handball in the box. Matthew Allen then got the Hornets on the board, cutting their deficit in half heading to halftime.
Shenandoah maintained the momentum from the PK goal, as Kyle Welch scored just 2:01 into the second half from Devin Kohout to knot the score at 2-2. W&L junior
Weyimi Agbeyegbe ensured the game did not stay tied for long, as just two and a half minutes later he scored on a shot from the left side of the box and into the top-right corner of the goal, after sophomore
Matteo Adler had an attempt blocked.
The Hornets kept the fight up the entire second half, but the Generals added a pivotal insurance goal in the 78th minute when Perez found senior
Grant McCarty in the middle of the box. McCarty took one touch to control before scoring to the low-left corner of the frame.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Six different players made their way onto the scoresheet for the Blue and White, with Perez the lone General to account for two goals on the night (1g, 1a). Perez's season point total grew to 16 with the three points, which is tied with McCarty for second on the team. Agbeyegbe extended his scoring lead for the team with his 11th goal for a total of 27 points, while Couhig bolstered his team-leading assist total to eight. Pleasants' goal in the 13th minute was his fourth of the season, and Adler received his fifth helper of the year on the Agbeyegbe score.
Sophomore
Will Joseph played all 90 minutes as the W&L netminder, and he made six saves.
Welch and Allen combined for three shots in the game to score once each. Kohout finished with an assist and two shots, while Nathan Yared led all players with six shot attempts and two on goal. Travis Jett also covered the duration of the game between the posts and made five saves.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
With his goal and two points on the night, Agbeyegbe tied Yared for the ODAC lead in both categories. Agbeyegbe also boosted his career goal total to 32 and career points to 81, needing one more of each to tie for the next spot up on the program's all-time lists. His next goal would tie him with David Knight '62 for seventh and his next point would match former teammate
Samuel Bass '23 for sixth place.
The Generals will play in their second consecutive ODAC championship game on Sunday, which marks the first time the team has made back-to-back title game appearances since playing in five straight from 2015-19 (won in 2015, '18, '19).
TEAM STATS:
Both teams finished with 19 shots in the game, and neither team outshot the other side by more than one in either half. Shenandoah held the halftime advantage, 9-8, before the Blue and White held an 11-10 edge in the second half. The Hornets also earned four corner kicks on the night to three for W&L.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will host Lynchburg in the conference championship on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. The regular season meeting favored W&L, 4-0, in the teams' regular season finale on October 25.
Nestled in the mountains of Virginia, Washington and Lee University is a proud member of NCAA Division III and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Founded in 1749, W&L is the ninth-oldest college in the United States and a top-ranked liberal arts university. With over 500 student-athletes in 24 varsity sports, the Generals have celebrated over 265 conference championships. Learn more about the Blue and White by visiting www.generalssports.com or on social media at @WLUGenerals.
